60 years

I have read recently about how to assess age and experience. There is a theory afoot that 60 is the new 40 or 45 or 50. I would be sorry to hear this because I would hope that as humans begin to live to 70 and 80 and 90 and even 100 that they extend their fruitful lives rather than compressing it into immaturity.

I want to imagine that as humans gain lifetimes that extend into three digits that we begin to experience new insights and accomplishments possible only from having experienced more. Imagine someone gaining 60 years of experience and then continuing for another 60 productive years.

The phenomenon is already happening, I think. I went to a 60th birthday party last Saturday night at the gorgeous Antonello Music Hall at MacPhail Center for Music in downtown Minneapolis. The concert consisted of works from the catalogue of one of America's most talented and musical composers, Carol Barnett. Did I say that she was well-known? Pay attention because she is only going to gain in recognition among performers -- those individuals who can present a composer's music to wider and wider publics.

The wonderful performers from Saturday night included the premier soprano in the Upper Midwest (and some would say one of the leading lyric sopranos in the country) Maria Jette. Along with David Hagedorn and Brian Roessler, she gave a stunning performance of Sapphic Fragments by Ms Barnett. This was the highlight of the program will, doubtless receive much more attention in the coming years. If yo can imagine a jazz trio improvising a set on the melancholy and sensual poetry of Sappho, you have a good sense of what Ms Barnett is able to accomplish.

This is a work created in the last couple of years (when the composer was in her 50s) and one cannot imagine that someone younger understanding or expressing the complicated affect more completely. But, no matter. Ms Barnett defeats any attempt to hear "age" in her music. In fact, her music is becoming more humorous, more sensual and more confidently graceful as each year passes.

The closet of music must be full because Carol was able to find works she composed in graduate school for the event. The earlier works are less confident, I think; less likely to toss up their heels. But you can hear they contain the early attempts of an artist to hit stride, to execute complicated dance steps.

Carol Barnett is 60 and one is confounded. How can she be halfway through her career, already. Her best works have been created in the last five years, unlike the trajectory of most creative artists who blaze early in their careers and then slowly decline to a smoldering ember. She has continued to create, to explore musical paths that interest her, to break-through into new song.

Happy Birthday to Carol Barnett. And start paying attention to this composer's work because it is becoming more and more compelling with each passing year.